


Promise you'll stay

by oonajosefina



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Car Accidents, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hospitals, M/M, Protective Zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-26
Updated: 2014-01-26
Packaged: 2018-01-10 03:52:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1154531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oonajosefina/pseuds/oonajosefina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam gets hit by a car while Zayn's on a fake date with Perrie. He hardly makes it and Zayn gets angsty and protective.</p><p>Not perfectly happy with this but yeah. Betad by my mother so I'm not responsible for any mistakes. </p><p>Based on a prompt from a lovely anon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promise you'll stay

**Author's Note:**

> I'm actually not at all happy with this, I just this to get distraction from another one I'm writing at the moment.  
> See end for full prompt :)

Not even new tweets. I sighed as I was fidgeting with my phone on my lap, absentmindedly nodding every now and then as Perrie was talking. We were on another “date” ordered by the management, on a Friday night in a nice restaurant, having a few drinks and some snacks.

I didn’t really mind going on these dates with my beard, she was nice and all that, but today of all days I just couldn’t have been arsed. I had made plans with Liam, my real boyfriend, but no. Of course not. When management tells us to do something, we have to obey. It’s in the contract.

Around seven o’clock I received a message from Liam.

“ _Boys dragging me to a club cos im apparntly sad ur with heerrr. il try to be home sooonn tho id rather be with u babe xx_ ”

I rolled my eyes and sighed, jealous of them getting to go out while I was stuck on a stupid fake date. I typed him a quick reply saying “ _alright hav fuunn il be home around 8.30 love u xx_ ”

The rest of the date went on just like it had so far; Perrie happily blabbering away and me nodding at appropriate times and answering and occasional question with a boring one word sentence.

 

“I’m home!” I exclaimed as I entered the door of our flat and stopped to pull off my jacket. Getting no response, I walked through the empty living room to our bedroom to find out that Liam wasn’t there either. Scowling, I fished my phone out of the pocket of my jeans and browsed the list of names until I found Liam’s.

The call went to voicemail straight away, and I stared at the screen confusedly for a bit. Liam _always_ had his phone charged and he never switched it off. I shrugged and walked back to the living room and fell onto one of the sofas, searching Harry’s number from my phone.

Harry didn’t pick up. Louis didn’t pick up either. I was starting to feel frustrated but also worried – the boys knew they were always supposed to keep their phones switched on and so that they could hear them, especially if we all weren’t somewhere together. I tried calling Niall but of _bloody_ course he didn’t answer his phone either.

Sighing in desperation I simply sent a group message to all of the boys, saying “ _Hi im home now, why aren’t u picking up? get liam here please x_ ”. As expected, I didn’t receive any responses to the text any soon. Letting out an irritated groan I threw my head back against the pillows on the sofa, tossing my phone somewhere next to me.

I must have fallen asleep at some point because I was startled by the sound of my ringtone. Groaning, I reached for the phone to see that it was Harry calling.

I didn’t have time to open my mouth before he started talking quietly but rapidly. “We’re at the hospital. Liam got hit by a car. Paul’s there in five to pick you up. Li’s not awake. We’re so sorry seriously, Zayn, just come here and we’ll explain everything…” I cut him off mid-sentence “What the hell man? This one fucking night that I’m not spending with him and he gets hit… Fucking hell now, seriously man!”

I felt the anger bubbling inside me, my cheeks getting hot and my heart starting to pump harder. Of course there was no reason for me to be angry at any of the boys but I couldn’t help it. He was _my_ Liam and… “Just get your arse here!” Harry hissed through the phone and hung up.

I started worrying more and more as the realisation hit me. Liam was not okay. He was unconscious. He had got hit by a car. He was at the hospital. _Unconscious_. I felt myself starting to panic as I pulled on my jacket once again and rushed down the stairs to meet Paul waiting there in his car.

Without a word I hopped in and he started driving, shooting me a sympathetic, concerned look every once in a while. My hands were fidgeting with my locked phone and tapping nervously against my legs. I couldn’t hold the questions in any longer. “Is he going to be okay? What happened? Is he in danger? Are the rest okay? How long has he been there?”

Paul took a deep breath, “They were outside the club about to get in and they were crossing the road but Liam stayed to take some pictures with a few fans. Then as he was crossing the road some asshole speeded from behind the corner, hit his side, he made quite a flight and now he’s there. Some internal bleeding, a few broken ribs, and a broken arm and they’re trying to figure out the damage in his head.”

My breath, already uneven, hitched and my fingernails were digging into my thighs. “Fuck fuck fuck…” I muttered under my breath. “You didn’t say if he’s in danger?” I wanted to be hopeful, but the level and amount of his injuries didn’t sound all that promising.

Paul remained silent for a while so I turned to look at him expectantly. “Just spit it out, will you?” He scowled, like hating the words he was about to say. “Yeah. His state is unstable.”

I looked up at the ceiling of the car, breathing out a long stream of air. Paul reached out his hand and patted my knee, calming and convincing. I knew he hoped for the best, of course he did. So did I but this seemed so bad and I felt hopeless, not even knowing exactly what had happened.

The rest of the drive to the hospital felt like it lasted forever, and I couldn’t remember anything from the way. Once we arrived, I wasn’t even able to wait for Paul – I just hopped out of the car and made a sprint through the hall into the waiting room, not minding the nurses asking me to stop.

I bumped into Harry in the waiting room. He looked wrecked; his hair was ruffled and his eyes looked like he had been crying. He leaped to wrap his arms around my neck, burying his face in my shoulder. “I – I’m so sorry, Zayn… We should have called you… Just so much was happening and he… He’s there in that room with Lou and Niall. I came here to wait for you… I can’t… It’s awful, Zayn, he looks so… He’s so vulnerable and…” I shushed him gently, trying to remain calm at least on the outside, as I patted his back reassuringly.

“Should we go in?” I asked, quietly and hesitantly, almost unwilling to actually go. I was scared of what the sight inside the room might be like, scared of seeing Liam so lifeless, so broken.

Harry pinched his eyes closed for a second before grabbing my hand and starting to drag me towards the room. I had to remind myself of breathing, tell my left leg to move after the right one. Harry took a glance at me as he gripped the door handle and I nodded shortly, confirming that I was ready.

I had known it would be bad, but not once had I imagined it would be anything like this.

Liam was there, lying on his back, needles and tubes and bandages covering his whole body. He was breathing unevenly, letting out quiet cough-like groans as his breath was hitching. He was pale, black rings around his eyes and his lips dry and chapped. Apart from his irregularly raising chest, he was completely still.

I let out a quiet whimper as I rushed to the bed to sit aside him, grabbing his hand as gently as I could, trying not to touch the tube attached to his wrist. “Liam…” I breathed out, so quietly that the other boys couldn’t hear. I could feel their sympathetic looks on my back, could see Harry’s arm wrapped around Niall’s shoulders comforting him out of the corner of my eye, but all I could focus on was Liam.

 _My_ Liam, who was here, nearly dying, battling for his life. I felt a lump in my throat as my eyes started to fill with tears. I leaned forward to bury my face into Liam’s chest, barely touching him but close enough to smell the scent that wasn’t _him._

“They operated him, he’s got more stable now but they’re keeping him under at least overnight.” I glanced at Louis gratefully and nodded, thanking him for explaining. “What exactly is his condition then?” I tried my best to keep my voice even, but it was terribly shaky and hoarse from the crying I was trying to hold back.

“He has four broken ribs, broken elbow, both bones on the forearm and clavicle. His skull isn’t broken, thankfully, but he has severe concussion and they’re keeping an eye on his neck which _shouldn’t_ be broken. His liver and pancreas got quite a hit and he’s got internal bleeding which should be under control if not now then soon.” I nodded at Louis once again, weighing the words in my head.

Now that I knew his condition, I started to feel angry again. “Why did he go alone? Why was there no one with him?” I questioned, looking at the boys, challenging. “Why was he alone?” I repeated, not getting the answer as soon as I wanted. My voice was oozing anger and I was sure if my hands hadn’t been on Liam, I would have punched something.

The others seemed to notice my sudden change of mood and Harry tried to speak as calmly as possible. “We didn’t notice, Zayn! He just took off to see the fans, we were on our way already and stopped to wait for him outside the club and he was on the other side of that road and then he started walking over to us and then…” His words became a muffle as he buried his face into Niall’s hair, holding onto the blond so hard it must have hurt.

“We’re sorry, Zayn, there was nothing we could’ve done, man…” Niall’s voice was trembling and he looked at me with genuine concern and sadness in his eyes, and I couldn’t help but look away.

After spending a while in silence, me covering my face with my other hand, grabbing Liam’s hand with the other one and the boys standing somewhere behind me, a nurse entered the room. “Excuse me, boys, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave for a while. The café’s open or you could sit in the waiting room. We are going to run some operations on your friend for a bit, you ought to be allowed back again in a few hours if you wish.”

We nodded and I pressed a soft kiss onto Liam’s hand before getting up and dragging my feet out of the room. “You lads can go get some sleep. I’ll stay here” I suggested. They looked at each other hesitantly. “Seriously, it’s fine. I’ll be sleeping in the waiting room and will call you if they say anything. It’s fine. I bet you’re exhausted.” The boys nodded understandingly yet throwing longing glances towards the door through which they could see Paul’s car.

“Go on then” I said once more, trying to sound as warm as possible despite the anger still boiling in me. They all leaned in to give me a long hug before whispering their quick goodbyes with apologetic looks on their faces and walked out.

I sighed and stretched as I started walking towards the cafeteria to get a cup of tea. After buying the cuppa, I walked outside to smoke the cigarette I desperately needed.

“Shit” I thought to myself as I breathed out a long puff of smoke. I didn’t even have any idea what I was angry about, who I was angry at. Mostly myself, that driver… I had no right to stay angry at the boys – it wasn’t their fault some driver didn’t know his shit, it wasn’t their fault some fans had wanted their pictures… As I thought of fans, I felt another wave of anger flow through me. No – I could _not_ blame the fans.

Sighing, I threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stepped on it and then made my way back in, taking a sip from my tea which had started to cool down. I took a seat in the waiting room, resting my head against the wall as I decided to try and get some sleep since it was already getting close to one in the morning.

I napped for a good few hours, waking up to random sounds, drifting between awake and asleep. Finally, around eight in the morning, I woke up to a nurse touching my arm gently. Rubbing my eyes, I looked up at her as she spoke. “Good morning… I thought you might want to know… Liam should wake up in a few hours. He’ll be very tired and he’s not to be disturbed, but it’s okay if you’re there. The other boys said you were together, so he should be fine to see you.”

I nodded, beaming up at her. This was great news. All the tiredness disappeared from my bones as I thought that Liam might be up in a while. “He won’t stay awake for long though, right?” The nurse nodded. “You’re right. We’ll try and keep him up for long enough for us to see that he is okay and that his memory is working, but if he’s in pain he’ll have to go back to sleep.” I nodded, stretching my arms and collecting my legs to get up.

The nurse patted my back and smiled as I started towards the door and then took off somewhere, leaving me to enter the room by myself.

I wasn’t as shocked this time as I was the first time I saw Liam like that; vulnerable, broken, pale as a ghost – he looked so tiny under the covers, hardly any skin visible from beneath the tubes and bandages.

I felt the tears filling up my eyes again as I took a seat in an armchair in the corner of the room and was fighting back a sob. I must have fallen asleep again because I woke up to a quiet moan coming from the direction of the bed.

My head jerked up and I listened closely, trying to hear something more. As I saw Liam’s hand twitch, I literally plunged beside his bed, softly touching the hand he had moved. “Li?” I whispered, not wanting to push him but desperate to see him awake.

He turned his head slightly into my direction, a quiet moan escaping his shut lips. “Oh my God, Liam, you’re here, I’m so happy you’re alive, I don’t know what I’d… Oh God…” I was sobbing now, out of pure happiness and relief. I watched Liam’s eyes open slowly and a small smile taking over his lips before his face was taken over with an expression that was full of pain.

Nervous and starting to panic, I reached to press the button that would invite a nurse over, and within seconds the one from the lobby earlier entered the room. “Yes?”

I didn’t lift my gaze from Liam as I spoke, “He woke up, he’s in pain, please do something” I murmured, not letting go of Liam’s hand. Without a word, she walked over to one of the bottles pumping medicines into Liam’s system and pushed on a button to, presumably, add some kind of pain killers into the liquid.

“He’s on morphine” the nurse explained, as I saw Liam’s face relax again “and he might be saying a bit funny things.” She smiled as she turned to face Liam, bending over so that she was hovering over him, face to face. “You okay there, Liam?” Her voice was friendly and warm, and Liam’s eyes met hers as he nodded. “Yeah…” he breathed out. I felt him squeeze my hand lightly and smiled, intertwining our fingers myself.

“That’s great” the nurse smiled as she straightened up. “Liam, I’ve got a few questions for you, if you don’t mind answering them.” She waited for Liam’s response and after he nodded, sat down onto the side of the bed. “Perfect. So here we go – what’s your social security number?”

I listened absentmindedly as the nurse went on with her questions about Liam’s life and the happenings of the night prior. “Okay then!” she announced as she got off the bed, gathering some papers in her hands. “Your memory seems fine; we’ll just keep you under strong medication for a few more days and see how your fractures start healing. You should be out of here in two weeks at the latest.”

Liam smiled at the news, probably not fully understanding, and I nodded and smiled at the nurse. “Thank you.” “It’s alright. You’re a great boyfriend. And you look like you could use some rest, and so could Liam, too. I say you go home, get a shower and a good nap and a night’s sleep and show up tomorrow. Liam should be better then, too, so you can have a proper conversation.”

I shrugged and looked at Liam, unwilling to leave his side, but he nodded too. “Imma… Sleep. Love you Zayn” he whispered, right before drifting to the sound of sleep.

“That clears it” I chuckled as I stood up myself and pressed a quick kiss on Liam’s forehead, whispering an inaudible “you too, babe” into his ear. “Take good care of him for me, please?”

The nurse smirked before smiling widely at me. “Kind of my job, right?” I just smiled and took one last, longing look at Liam before I walked out of the room.

I really felt bad for leaving Liam there, but I knew he was in good hands and I knew there was nothing I could do when he was asleep anyway. As the taxi pulled over into my driveway, I paid the driver way too much, got out of the car and stumbled to my door.

I entered the house to find an adorable sight in the living room. Louis, Niall and Harry were all there, piled up on the sofa, wrapped in each other’s arms. “Aww” I cooed as I saw some remarks of life among the boys. Harry stretched his arms, letting out a long moan and accidentally smacking Louis in the face.

“Fuck off, Curly” I heard Louis murmur as he slapped Harry’s arm away and started squirming in attempt to move away from the pile of limbs he was stuck in. “You are one hell of a sight there, gentlemen” I said, amusement in my voice as I spoke. They all looked up at me, even Niall, now waking up and rubbing his eyes. “Oh… Hi. We decided to bunk at yours so you don’t have to be alone. That okay?” I rolled my eyes at Harry’s question – I knew that he knew that it was okay, and he knew it too.

“Sure. You had anything to eat? We could order something in. Starving, me” I spoke to no one necessarily and smirked as Niall jumped on the sofa. “Food would be nice” he mumbled as he pulled himself to sit, Harry’s head on his lap. Louis and Harry muttered in agreement, so ‘I pulled out my phone and dialled in the pizza place’s number, walking to the bedroom to get changed while I was speaking.

 

After having ordered the pizzas, I made my way back into the living room and got seated on the empty end of the sofa, lifting Louis’ legs onto my lap. I rested my head against the backrest, looking at the other boys’ still tired faces. “Anything new?” Harry asked as he fully realised that I actually wasn’t at the hospital anymore. “He woke up. His memory’s fine. They’re keeping him on morphine for a while. He should be out in two weeks.”

Louis sighed happily and lifted his hands to rub his temples. A smile took over all of the three boys’ faces as they understood that Liam would be fine. “’D he talk to you?” Niall asked. “A bit yeah, but the nurse was asking him a lot of questions so he was pretty worn-out after that. I left him to sleep – the nurse said I could come back tomorrow.”

“Thank goodness” Harry mumbled into Niall’s lap and then pushed himself up into a sitting position. Niall nodded slowly, the knuckles of his intertwined fingers pressed against his lips.

We sat there quietly until the doorbell rang and I walked to get the pizzas. Then we ate, in silence of course. After finishing our pizzas, I took off to take a shower and Louis shambled into the guest bedroom and started snoring right away.

I stood in the shower for a long time, still worrying about Liam but so, _so_ happy he was going to be okay. Of course it would take long for him to be completely fine, but still. I quickly finished my shower, wrapped a towel around my waist and walked out of the bathroom.

Niall and Harry were cuddled up together on the sofa, Niall asleep in Harry’s arms, Harry still awake, lips pressed against Niall’s temple, half-heartedly following the film that was on TV. After having changed into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt in the bedroom, I walked back to the sofa.

“You know…” Harry started and I eyed him curiously, “I’m so happy he’s gonna be okay,” I smiled and patted his shoulder. “Yeah. Me too. Although I’d be even happier had he been alright all along.” Harry looked down at his hands and sighed. “I’d have done anything to stop it, Zayn, I really would have. There was _nothing_ we could do… I’m so sorry, I know it must hurt so much, but please just forgive us, forgive him as well. It’s no one’s fault apart from that dickface behind the stirring wheel. No one’s.”

I sighed and closed my eyes tightly - let his words sink in. “Yeah. I know that. It’s just… I feel so helpless, so pathetic, not being able to do anything - not having been able to do anything. He’s _everything_ to me and the first time in _ages_ that he’s not with me, he gets hit by a fucking car, man…” Harry looked at me understandingly, a subtle smile on his lips.

“I know how you feel” he glanced fondly at the blond boy in his arms “but it’s all done now. All you can really do now is to be there for him while he’s recovering.”

I nodded and sighed deeply. “You’re right. Thanks mate. For being here. For everything.” He smiled and reached one arm to give my knee a light squeeze. “’S okay. You’d be there for me, wouldn’t you?” I smiled and nodded, pulling myself off the sofa. “I’m gonna go sleep now. You cool sleeping here?” “Yeah, sure. There’s duvets in that one closet, right?” Harry asked and I confirmed his question with a short nod. Yawning, I muttered “g’night” and walked into Liam and mine bedroom.

I didn’t sleep too well, jerked awake every now and then. I had nightmares of random car accidents through the night. One, strangely realistic dream was of Liam’s funeral; I woke up sweaty and crying, my bed sheets crumpled and my duvet fallen on the floor. Waiting for my breath to even again, I reached to grab my phone from the bedside table. Noticing it was eight in the morning already, I sighed gratefully and rolled out of the bed.

Not even bothering to change, not to mention eat breakfast, I scribbled a note to the boys, grabbed my car keys and exited our house.

I couldn’t even be bothered to turn on the music, I just drove to the hospital as quickly as possible, yet trying to be as careful as possible; the nightmares still fresh in my memory. I made it to the hospital and sprinted straight into Liam’s room.

He was asleep, still looking vulnerable but better than yesterday. “He’s getting stronger.” I jerked at the voice, of the nurse I hadn’t seen in the corner of the room. She noticed my little jump and laughed quietly. “Oh sorry. But yeah, he’s got some proper sleep and drank some water earlier.” “Oh. That sounds great” I smiled but couldn’t take my eyes off of my boyfriend.

The nurse excused herself and left the room, leaving me and Liam alone. He was still asleep so I sat down in the armchair and stared her in a way that made me feel like a creep but I couldn’t bring myself to care.

After what felt like hours (and probably was) he woke up. With fluttering eyelashes, he stared at me and whispered “hi.” “Hi” I hummed back, moving to sit beside him on the side of his bed. “How are you?” I asked him, twining our fingers together. “Have been better” he tried to chuckle but winced in pain; laughing hurt his ribs. “Don’t worry, babe” he whispered as he noticed concern take over my expression.

“Sorry, Li. And… I’ll never let you out of my eyesight again. Never ever in a million years. If this is what happens, anyway. I can’t lose you.” Liam’s eyes were tearing up as he looked at me, fond in his gaze. “Don’t say that. It could’ve happened even with you there. It’s not your fault - no one’s fault except for me and the driver. Don’t worry Zayn” he tried to reassure me but noticed it didn’t really work so instead he whispered “C’mere.”

I leaned forward, my face getting closer to his, trying my very best not to touch a needle or a tube or his side or anything, really. His lips caught mine hungrily the instant he could reach them, and we kissed for a long while.

So many words, so many emotions were included in that kiss, and we were both slightly breathless when it ended. I chuckled as I noticed that Liam’s heart rate had sped up and he blushed deeply. “I just love you.”

I smiled at him, trying to show every single emotion I was feeling through my eyes  as I whispered “Yeah. I love you too.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: I want one where zayn has to go on a pr date with perrie. The rest of the lads drag liam out to hang out since they know how sad he gets when his boyfriend is forced to spend time with his beard. And Zayn comes home & doesn't see anyone. He tries Calling liam, but he won't answer. Finally one of the boys does and tell zayn that theu are @ the hospital. Zayn rushes there and finds out that while the boys were out they got into an accident, the car hit Liam's side. Zayn has to deal with Facing the possibility that Liam might not make it and dealing with the anger towards his best friends for not being careful with his boyfriend. Liam makes it, of course and its cute & fluffy but zayn is struggling with letting liam out of his Eyesight, too scared that something will happen to him again. Basically fluffy ziam with protective zayn
> 
> Please leave kudos and comments if you liked (even just a little bit........)


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